Drew Brees is the New Orleans Saints' best offensive player. Who knew
he'd be their best running back against the Arizona Cardinals? Brees did his
usual assault through the air with 342 yards passing, and he also scored a TD
on a 7-yard scramble in the fourth quarter. All in all, he rushed six times for
21 yards, a respectable average of 3.5 yards per carry.

Outside of Brees, the
Saints ran their main running backs, Pierre Thomas and Darren Sproles, just 14
times. New Orleans had minus-6 yards in the first half. And don't go blaming
Mark Ingram, who was inactive.

The Cardinals played a lot of eight-man fronts,
but the Saints at least have to make a token effort to run the ball. Yes, the
Saints finished with 104 yards rushing as a team, but a large chunk came in the
fourth quarter when the game was already decided. Passing 46 times won't be a
recipe for success on the road outside the comfort of the Dome.

Defense -- 4 fleur de lis

Give coordinator Rob Ryan credit. He's among the best
in-game adjusters in the league. After Arizona marched 80 yards for a touchdown
on the opening drive, Ryan and the Saints pitched a shutout.

The young
defensive line set the tone as Cam Jordan (two sacks, three hurries, two
tackles for loss), Junior Galete (sack, three hurries, tackle for loss) and Glenn
Foster (sack, hurry, tackle for loss) harassed Cardinals quarterback Carson
Palmer.

The pressure by the D-line made life easier on the Saints' secondary,
which held Larry Fitzgerald to five catches for 64 yards. Kenny Vaccaro and
Keenan Lewis each came up with an interception to thwart Cardinals drives.

Special teams -- 3.5 fleur de lis

An unsung hero from the win over Arizona was punter Thomas
Morstead, who averaged 49.5 yards on four attempts. Morstead's high,
directional punts all but nullified Patrick Peterson in the return game. Peterson
returned two punts for a total of 15 yards and fumbled once, though Arizona
recovered. Conversely, Sproles averaged 17.7 yards on three punt returns, flipping
field position in the Saints' favor.

The Saints' kickoff coverage team had just
one breakdown, giving up a 46-yard return to Javier Arenas.

Coaching -- 2.5 fleur de lis

Sean Payton's clock management near the end of the first
half was a head-scratcher. With 1:43 left before halftime and the Saints
nursing a 14-7 lead, New Orleans started a drive on its 4-yard line. After a
6-yard completion to Marques Colston, Payton called timeout rather milk the
clock. A couple incompletions later, the Saints punted to the Arizona 40.

After
Jordan's sack of Palmer on first down, Payton again elected to call timeout. Palmer
later completed a pass to set up third-and-2 with 1:01 left, and Payton
surprisingly used his final timeout. Arizona converted the first down and was at the Saints' 41 without having to use a timeout of its own.

Payton's poor use
of timeouts didn't cost the Saints, but it was a questionable sequence nonetheless.